Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Forty detained in operation against leftist group in Istanbul
Istanbul police launched a major operation early this morning in the
Gülsuyu and Gazi neighborhoods against a leftist group after several of
its members attended with rifles the funeral of a young man who was shot
dead while protesting against drug gangs in Gülsuyu on Sept. 30. The
operation was launched after the members of group, who were spotted with
rifles at the funeral of 21-year-old Hasan Ferit Gedik, were identified
as members of the Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party/Front
(DHKP/C) by the counter-terrorism branch of Istanbul police. A total of
40 people have been detained during the operation which was conducted at
a number of locations in the two aforementioned districts, with around
1,500 members of the special police forces and riot teams with
helicopter support.
A long-barreled weapon and four pistols were seized during the raids.
The police also stormed the building of an association, the Gülsuyu
Gülensu Rights Association, early in the morning and seized many
documents for examination. Clashes occurred last night between a group
of protesters and the police as the latter refused to permit the group
to march to commemorate Gedik in Gülsuyu, which is in the district of
Maltepe on the Asian side. The protesters responded by throwing Molotov
cocktails at the police, who intervened against the group with tear gas.
Gedik’s funeral was delayed for three days because police refused to
allow the deceased’s family to conduct a commemoration ceremony at the
murder scene, ostensibly due to security concerns.
Neighborhood residents have long excoriated the police for either
doing too little to crack down on the drug gangs or tacitly
collaborating with the groups. Gedik’s family also accused plainclothes
police officers of attempting to destroy evidence from the murder while
his body was at hospital. Gedik’s murder was the latest in a series of
violent incidents that have occurred in the neighborhood due to the
ongoing conflict between drug dealers in the area and leftist groups,
including the Socialist Party of the Oppressed (ESP), the DHKP/C and the
People’s Front, of which Gedik was also reported to be a member.